Doctors, Hospitals and Appointments

As mentioned in Health Insurance section one has to buy a Sanitaria Nazionale to get a general practitioner service. When you go to get your insurance card in one of the uffici per l'attività non distrettualizzata you will be assigned a doctor. If you are an EU or Italian citizen and you want to be assigned a General Practitioner, use this utility to know in which 'distretto' you live in and in which office you should go. In fact you have right to choose one, just be careful since not all Italian doctors are English speakers and ones who are can be poor. People in the office kindly offers non-Italians a choice of English speaking doctors according to their experience, simply to make sure you can call doctors and try to speak.

Every doctor may have different working hours and it is usually around 4 hours a day. You should call them to make sure and get an informal appointment. However, many people just go to doctor's office and wait there until the queue of patients is finished. You should show your identity card (Passport or permit of stay) and Health Insurance card to your doctor and explain your problem in a common language. If the problem needs specialized examination you will be sent to a specialist with a 'prescription' which is also needed to get medicine if prescribed. With your prescription go to a pharmacy and ask for an appointment. You don't have to pay immediately (you may choose to) but make sure you did before the appointment. You can find the list of Pharmacies for appointments and payments in the related section (as mentioned in the Emergency Situations and Numbers section the proximity of your appointment depends on the emergency color code (red, yellow, green or white) given to it, so if you believe your problem is severe, you should convince your doctor).

If you fear you have contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD) you can go free of charge and without having to disclose your identity to the Centro MST located inside the Ospedale Maggiore (tel. 040/3992882-3). Although the personal is very caring their English proficiency is not guaranteed.

There are two full facility hospitals, a pediatric hospital, and a clinic in Trieste:

1- Cattinara Hospital